Charles alfred iiutchins



Patented Oct. ll, I898.

C. A. HUTCHINS. ATTACHMENT FOR BUOY GABLES.

(Application filed Sept. 15, 1897.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES ALFRED HUTCHINS, OF HALIFAX, CANADA.

ATTACHMENT FOR BUOY-CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 612,109, dated October1 1, 1898.

Application filed $eptember 15, 1897. Serial No. 651,752. (No model.)

T0 aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES ALFRED HUTcHINs, of Halifax, Province ofNova Scotia, and Dominion of Canada, have in: Vented a new and ImprovedAttachment for Buoy-Gables, of which the followingis a full, clear, andexact description.

This invention is adapted particularly to waters where heavy seas andstrong tides are prevalent, and the attachment is so constructed thatthe strain on the cable and mooring is relieved and so that the dangerof fouling and breaking the cable is avoided. V

This specification is the disclosure of one form of my invention, whilethe claims define the actual scope of the conception.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the sub merged float or drag which Iemploy. Fig.

2 is a view showing the buoy complete in the position it assumes when inuse, the dotted lines illustrating the position of the parts when understrain in a heavy sea; and Fig. 3 is a similar view illustrating the useof two floats or drags when the strain of the cable is very great or theWater is too shallow for one float to sustain the necessary scope ofmooring clear of the bottom.

In the use. of floating or can buoys it is frequently the case thatchanges in the tides and winds cause the cable to be dragged about onthe bottom and become fouled either with itself or with the bottom, sothat the cable is shortened and the efficiency of the buoy is impaired,or, worse still, in a heavy sea the buoy is liable to part the cable andgo adrift.

I avoid this danger by holding the loose folds of the cable off thebottom of the body of water in which the buoy is placed, so that thecable is slacked OE and taken in according to the strain from thefloating buoy. I also relieve the strain on the mooring by employing adrag against the strain from the floating buoy, so that as a heavy seastrikes said buoy the strain on the cable is transmitted first to thedrag and thence in a diminished degree to the mooring itself.

Referring to Fig. 2, the floating buoy A is held to a heavy mooring B bymeans of a cable in two sections 0 and C. Interposed between thesections 0 and O of the cable is the submerged buoyant drag D. The fulllines in Fig. 2 show the parts when at comparative rest in good weather.Then the buoyant drag D is almost directly over the mooring B, and thecable is held free above the bottom of the body of water. Now when thefloating buoy A is placed under strain the cable becomes taut, as thedotted lines show, and plays out to give the buoy the necessary freedom.hen a heavy sea strikes the floating buoy, the section 0 of the cableimmediately receives the strain and the buoyant drag D breaks thegreater portion of the strain on the section 0 of the cable, permittingthe section C of the cable to transmit but a small portion of the strainoriginally applied to the section 0'. It therefore will be seen that thebuoyant drag performs the double advantageous purpose of preventing thefouling of the cable and of taking the main portion of the strain offthe mooring. When the cable is insured against fouling, all liability ofits parting is avoided, since buoy-cables rarely part except whenentangled and unduly shortened, and by relieving thestrain on themooring the liability of the buoy shifting is also avoided.

The buoyant drag, as illustrated in detail in Fig. 1, consists in acylindrical body portion d, having an internal annular strengthening-ribcl, and conical ends 61 respectively provided with eyes d to which theseveral sections of the cable are attached with a swivel. Secured to oneend of the body d and surrounding the main portion of one of the conicalends 01 is an outwardly-flaring skirt (Z that forms a cup-shaped end forthe drag, and the skirt being placed next to the floating buoy, as shownin Fig. 2, forms the drag against the action of the buoy, as beforeexplained.

On comparatively deep shoals it is not necessary to give the floatingbuoy as much play about the mooring as is necessary on comparativelyshallow shoals, because the seas are less violent on the deep shoals,and consequently the strain on the buoy is less se vere. Fig. 3 showsthe range of the buoy on the shallow shoalfor example, thirteen fathomsof water. In this case it is desirable to give the floating buoy A acable in three sections 0 G and O and provide the buoyant drags D, so asto insure holding the cable entirely above the bottom. The section 0 ofthe cable is attached to the mooring B,

and in calm Weather the cable is held as shown by full lines in Fig. 3.When the floating the attachment having a buoyant rigid body capable ofbeing held by the cable to float at a point between the bottom and thesurface of the Water and also having a rigid skirt extending outwardfrom the body and forming a drag against the movement of the attachmentthrough the Water.

buoy is under strain, as the dotted lines show, the cable will be playedout and the two drags will exert a double dragging influence against thestrain.

The submerged buoy is intended more particularly for use in mooring thelarger and more expensive class of buoys-such as au-' tomatic,Whistling, and bell buoys-and also for mooring light-ships. It may alsobe used with advantage by cable-ships when laying and repairingsubmarine cable When necessary to bury the cable.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. An attachment for marine-buoy cables,

2. An attachment for marine-buoy cables, the attachment having a rigidand buoyant cylindrical body portion with tapering ends, which ends areadapted respectively to have sections of the cable attached thereto andthe body portion being capable of being held by the cable to float at apoint between the surface of the water and the bottom thereof, and thebody having at its cylindrical portion an outwardly-flaring rigid skirtforming a drag against the movement of the attachment through the water,

CHARLES ALFRED HUTCHIN S.

\Vitnesses:

A. E. WILLIAMS, W. M. I-IUTcHINs.

